8. “To Emperor Darius, greetings.“Your Majesty should know that we went to Judah and to Jerusalem and there we found the leaders of the Jews who had returned from exile
9. building a large new temple for the Lord with expensive, shaped stone blocks and with wooden beams set in the walls.
10. The work is being done rapidly and is moving ahead steadily; yet they are taking great care and making their work look beautiful.
11. “We then asked the leaders of the people to tell us who had given them orders to rebuild the Temple and lay the foundations for the buildings.
12. We also asked them who their leaders were and demanded a list of their names, so that we could inform you.
13. “They answered, ‘We are servants of the Lord who created heaven and earth.
14. This Temple was built and equipped many years ago by a very powerful king of Israel.
15. But because our ancestors sinned against Israel's Lord in heaven and made him angry, he let them be conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, a king of the Chaldean dynasty.